Anger about Toll Road lease evident at hearing-Speakers predict Daniels will be ditched by voters.

March 26, 2006

Gov. Mitch Daniels may go down in history as one of the most unpopular governors in Indiana history. In little more than a year in office, he has alienated voters left and right. Democrats didn't trust him to begin with, but his fellow Republicans are bailing out on him, too. First it was last year's divisive decision to place Indiana on daylight-saving time. Then it was this year's widely unpopular decision to lease the Indiana Toll Road to foreigners. Next year's legislative session will tackle property tax changes, which could lead to another rupture in the Hoosier fabric. After 15 months in office, "My Man Mitch'' has turned into "Ditch Mitch.'' Take the case of Michael Blakesley of South Bend. He was among 17 people who spoke Thursday afternoon at a perfunctory hearing about the lease of the Indiana Toll Road. He told the Indiana Finance Authority, which held the hearing, that he is a Republican who is "deeply embarrassed by the actions of the party.'' He described himself as "an ex-Mitch Daniels supporter.'' Furthermore, Blakesley said, he is "disillusioned by the actions of our state legislators in the face of substantial citizen opposition to this idea.'' Blakesley said he was surprised by the audacity of the Indiana Finance Authority, which formalized the choice Thursday of Cintra-Macquarie to run the Toll Road. The lease is a bad idea, he said, and the state needs more time to study it. Joel Brigham of South Bend also spoke against the governor. "I was told to vote my conscience,'' Brigham said, "but when I voted for Mitch, I must have been unconscious.'' Other speakers at the hearing noted the futility of their comments, since the Indiana General Assembly already passed the Major Moves bill that authorized the Toll Road lease, and the IFA was rubber-stamping the decision while the public hearing was taking place. They were right. The hearings were a mere technicality, required by state law. Amy Corsaro, IFA legal counsel who conducted the hearings at IUSB, warned participants that she was not there to answer questions or offer comments. She just sat there. That meant the words of the speakers were just wind and chaff. Regardless, some of them continued to urge that the lease idea be scrapped. Bob Weymon Jr. called the lease Nancy J. Sulok Commentary Nancy J. Sulok is a Tribune columnist. "an indecent proposal.'' He said he can't believe that Indiana is going to render control of its infrastructure to a foreign partnership. Referring to the $3.8 billion payment the state will get from Cintra-Macquarie, Weymon warned that there are no free lunches. "The last free lunch I saw was in a mouse trap,'' he said. S.J. Szabo, who stood up three times to argue against the lease, described it as the "greatest example of malfeasance'' he has ever seen, as well as a betrayal of the public trust. He predicted a four-fold increase in fares over the course of the 75-year contract. The way the lease was rushed through the short session of the legislature, Szabo said, was unconscionable and calls for impeachment. Daniels was not the only target of the speakers. Some of them mentioned the legislators who voted to ramrod the Major Moves bill through the short session. "I thought we had representatives with more brains than that,'' commented Bernard Bauer, who said he worked on the Toll Road for 25 years. Don Miller, a retired businessman from Kosciusko County, suggested that the governor's Major Moves program should be renamed Major Uproar. It will be interesting to see whether citizen anger will be demonstrated at the polls this year. All of the state representatives are up for election, along with half of the state senators. The Toll Road lease was decided by a partisan vote, with the Republican majority pushing it through. Will the Grand Old Party end up getting the Grand Old Push-off? Nancy J. Sulok's columns appear on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays. You can reach her at nsulok@sbtinfo.com, or by writing c/o South Bend Tribune, 225 W. Colfax Ave., South Bend, IN 46626, telephone (574) 235-6234. "an indecent proposal.'' He said he can't believe that Indiana is going to render control of its infrastructure to a foreign partnership. Referring to the $3.8 billion payment the state will get from Cintra-Macquarie, Weymon warned that there are no free lunches. "The last free lunch I saw was in a mouse trap,'' he said. S.J. Szabo, who stood up three times to argue against the lease, described it as the "greatest example of malfeasance'' he has ever seen, as well as a betrayal of the public trust. He predicted a four-fold increase in fares over the course of the 75-year contract. The way the lease was rushed through the short session of the legislature, Szabo said, was unconscionable and calls for impeachment. Daniels was not the only target of the speakers. Some of them mentioned the legislators who voted to ramrod the Major Moves bill through the short session. "I thought we had representatives with more brains than that,'' commented Bernard Bauer, who said he worked on the Toll Road for 25 years. Don Miller, a retired businessman from Kosciusko County, suggested that the governor's Major Moves program should be renamed Major Uproar. It will be interesting to see whether citizen anger will be demonstrated at the polls this year. All of the state representatives are up for election, along with half of the state senators. The Toll Road lease was decided by a partisan vote, with the Republican majority pushing it through. Will the Grand Old Party end up getting the Grand Old Push-off? Nancy J. Sulok's columns appear on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays. You can reach her at nsulok@sbtinfo.com, or by writing c/o South Bend Tribune, 225 W. Colfax Ave., South Bend, IN 46626, telephone (574) 235-6234.